Mister Baseball

by Pim van Nes

Following new manager Antonio Pacheco and coach Oreste Kindelan, the pre-Olympic selection of Cuba has arrived in the Netherlands, where they will participate in the 24th Haarlem Honkbal Week from July 4 thru 13. In a warming-up friendly in Rotterdam Cuba played versus the Netherlands for the first time, since they were beaten 2-1 by the Dutch during last year’s World Cup in Taiwan. Dutch manager Robert Eenhoorn kept his best pitcher Rob Cordemans in the dugout and gave the start on the mound to Leon Boyd, relieved consecutively by eight other pitchers during the game. The Cubans beat the Dutch by 9-2, but the only homerun in the game was Dutch: with two outs in the seventh Jeroen Sluijter hit a solo homer for the 2-7 score, applauded by the 2,500 crowd in the Familie Stadion.

While Eenhoorn has a selection of players from his Hoofdklasse clubs (the Major League of the country) available for the upcoming Haarlem tournament, all players are aware that several will have to abandon the national team before the Olympic Games. Their vacancies will be filled by professional players now active in the American Minor Leagues. Which players will be authorized by their American employers to defend their national colors in the Olympic tournament in August is not yet known. These pro players will join the Netherlands national team. With Cuba it is the other way around: everybody selected by Pacheco for the national team is already on board and Haarlem may be the point of return to Cuba for those dropping out from the Beijing squad. Japanese TV cameras were already filming the pre-tournament game in Rotterdam.

The Cuban starting lineup was as follows: center fielder Jeorvis Duvergel, third baseman Michel Enriquez, second baseman Yulieski Gourriel, first baseman Alexander Mayeta, designated hitter Frederich Cepeda, right fielder Alexei Bell, left fielder Yoandri Urgelles, catcher Ariel Pestano, shortstop Eduardo Paret and pitcher Elier Sanchez.

The Dutch team started with shortstop Michael Duursma, center fielder Eugene Kingsale, catcher Sidney de Jong, designated hitter Bryan Engelhardt, third baseman Raily Legito, right fielder Dirk van’t Klooster, first baseman Vince Rooi, second baseman Roel Koolen, left fielder Danny Rombley and pitcher Leon Boyd.

The first pitcher to concede runs in the game was the third at Dutch side, Diegomar Markwell in the third inning on two consecutive hits: a double by Paret and a single by Duvergel. The big inning was the fourth when Amsterdam pitcher Kenny Berkenbosch was plagued by a shortstop error with already one on. Two walks, two hits and two runs caused the first substitution within an inning and debuting Nick Veltkamp took over. However, two inherited runners scored on Duvergel’s second single in the game for a 5-1 score. After nine innings Cuba, had totalized twelve hits, including a triple by Enriquez in the sixth inning and five doubles. The first Dutch hit came in the third inning from lineup number nine Danny Rombley, who scored after a hit by pitch and two walks off first reliever Norgel Vera.

Photo: © Claudia Aaldijk

Pim van Nes
Baseball writer for
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